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Angela Merkel was a disaster in this regard. The nation went collectively insane after Fukushima and she cowed to the public to win the next election rather t
by q1w2 5y ago
Angela Merkel was a disaster in this regard. The nation went collectively insane after Fukushima and she cowed to the public to win the next election rather than try to calm the public ignorance.
Instead, Germany funded Russia's NordGas II pipeline to replace the nuclear power they turned off with gas. Insane stupidity.
- nazka 5y agoAnd continue with their coal mines and turbines too…
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y agoWhile I concur with the 'disaster', the pipeline thing seems to be more rooted in our former chancellor, a.k.a Gazprom Gerd. Revolving door, and such, you know? :-)
- joecool1029 5y agoAs stupid as this policy was, it wasn't started by Merkel. She just sped it up. The previous chancellor Schröder, now a foreign Russian energy minister, set the schedule into motion for nuclear shutdown.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%C3%B6der#Relationship_with_Gazprom_and_Rosneft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%C3%B6der#Relation...
- kelsolaar 5y agoAnd they put back up many coal power plants which creates an insane amount of air pollution.
- dispat0r 5y agoThat's not true. There is an exit strategy for coal in germany and at least for now it's still going. Next year they will shutdown the remaining nuclear plants. That will be the moment of truth.
- a0-prw 5y agoNo, Germany did not fund Nordstream 2. "Anglo-Dutch group Royal Dutch Shell, Austria’s OMV, France’s Engie and Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall will each provide loans covering 10 per cent of the €9.5bn cost of the pipeline, with Gazprom providing the remaining 50 per cent." Source: Financial Times, https://archive.vn/pirwk https://archive.vn/pirwk Also, clean energy is a long way off and Europeans are still going to have to heat their houses. Personally, I'm happy that we're doing business with Russia, rather than being locked into more expensive, US gas imports.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago> US gas imports The US has huge natural gas reserves. Are they really importing natural gas?
- a0-prw 5y agoI mean imports from the US to Europe. It's a good idea to have multiple suppliers. IMO, Trump's sanctioning of Nordstream 2 was mostly economic warfare against an ally (Europe), disguised as geoplitical concerns about Russia.